Unit Two Marilyn Monroe Beauty Pageants

When most people think of beauty pageants, they think of Barbie-like little girls with their tiny bedazzled dresses and swimsuits strutting their stuff on stage while showing off their million dollar smile. The pageant judges watch their every move looking for a mistake in their routine while an audience of mostly moms screams, applauds, and cheers for them behind the line of judges, showing the girls the exact moves they are supposed to be doing. “A beauty pageant is an assembly of girls or women at which judges select the most beautiful (Cartwright).”

Feminist ideas are used throughout this story in both explicit and implicit ways to help describe the gender roles placed upon females in the 1950s. “That figure was a garish blond showgirl, a Hollywood ‘sexpot’ of no interest to intellectuals”. (Page 79) The author explicitly includes the

No longer an element in any ties to a program of broad social reform, sexual freedom now was defined as individual rebellion (Foner 777). Equally important, with bobbed hair, short skirts, public drinking and smoking, and unapologetic birth control methods, the singe, young “flapper” embodied the change in standards of sexual behavior, at least in the case of large cities (Foner 777). She visited dance halls and music clubs where white people engaged in “wild” dances like the Charleston which had been popular early on in black communities. She also frequented sexually charged Hollywood films that featured stars like Clara Bow, the provocative “It’ Girl,” and Rudolph Valentino, the original on-screen “Latin Lover.” (Foner 777). Furthermore, what was once scandalous a generation earlier had become a device to market goods from automobiles to cigarettes (Foner 778). Finally, having found a husband, women were expected to look for freedom within the confinements of their own home, finding “liberation,” according to the advertisements, in the used of new labor-saving appliances (Fonner 778). Many professional opportunities for women continued to be limited due to the assumptions about what jobs were suitable for females. The “new professional woman” was clear and widely publicized image. However, the reality was that most women who were married did not

Beauty pageants focused on the importance of beauty and reaching perfection. Barbie, although widely known for teaching the importance of independence in young girls, was not seen as threat since because she was a doll; her purpose was to relate their child-sized hopes and dreams to the adult world (The Beat Begins: America in the 1950s). Marilyn Monroe did not comply with the typical domestic roles that were generally portrayed in the television shows, however, she did not drastically defy the beliefs. She strongly reinforced the importance of beauty and use of sexuality in her films but nevertheless she did this to attract the opposite sex, which is what young women wanted ("Marilyn Monroe: Sex Symbol and Pop Icon", 2012). They wanted to attract men so they could start their next chapter of their lives. With that said, the start of pageants, the introduction of Barbie and Marilyn Monroe gave women an idea on how they should look and act which made these messages dominate at the time. Another message that came across from all three icons were the sole representation of white, middle class women. During this time period there was no diversity in pageants nor in Barbie

Beauty comes in a variety of different shapes and sizes. The perception of beauty are endless. Whether it is a tall blonde with blue eyes or the waist size. Around the world beauty is idolized differently; just like one’s mind. Pageants have force a view on beauty that can cause women emotional detriment to women and portrays beauty to be more artificial that natural.

In 1854 instead of judging woman or young girls on their looks, Phineas Taylor Barnum began judging animals on their looks, this was the first beauty pageant. The first swimsuit competition was held in 1880 at a festival to bring business however, it soon became a summer “tradition”. Women from all around the world became interested in them, wanting to be seen as the “perfect” woman. Currently, there are 3 different types of beauty pageants, a “glitz pageant” consists of the contestants wearing heavy makeup, crystal decorated clothes and wearing slip-on veneers. Another type of pageant is named a “semi-glitz pageant” which is very similar to the “glitz pageant”, except contestants are not allowed to wear any hair pieces or slip-on veneers. The third type of pageant is referred to as the “natural pageant”, contestants are permitted to wear natural makeup and will be disqualified if any hair piece or slip-on veneers are worn. Each of these different pageants are taken very seriously by its contestants with the goal in mind of winning the crown. Many contestants will often make drastic or permanent changes, forced by their guardian or parent(s) if they think they have a better chance of winning. Beauty pageants exist only to judge girls based on their looks, which can be extremely damaging, both physically and emotionally, therefore beauty pageants should be prohibited around the world to help end the constant discrimination and unreal expectations of women and young girls.

Overall, the system of pageants is corrupt and needs to be banished before it causes anymore damage to today’s women. Does society want the future of America to choose parading on a stage in a swimsuit instead of going to college and building a life for themselves? Women need to form an alliance and work harder to make beauty pageants a thing of the

Beauty contests are competitions where the contestants are ranked and judged based on their answers to the judges questions and their physical traits. According to racked, the idea of beauty contests was made in 1854. Phineas Taylor Barnum desired for Beauty pageants to be held, but it didn’t take off until later on. The first Beauty pageant called “Atlantic City’s Inter-City Beauty Contest” was held at Atlantic City in 1921. The first woman to win was Margaret Gorman. There are beauty pageants for a variety of ages. There are beauty pageants for women and for girls.

Beauty pageants are the glitz and glamour of a girl’s lifetime as she gets to be whoever she wants to be. A new, perfect girl. But, what happens when the girl and the loved ones around her become consumed with the ideal of “perfection” in the eyes of judges and the media? Beauty pageants are the main, if not the exact reason young girls and women have many conflicting problems in their lives, as media and other sources of influential material alters their lives. Beauty pageants influence the female population by taking away a sense of comfort, forcing women to conform to beauty standards, and harming the girls indefinitely.

In the 1950s, postwar we saw a huge effort for the reconstruction of families. The roles of each person in the family had a purpose. The roles were specific and to stray from it would not have been good for the family image. Women were the homemakers who waited on their families every need. While this trend was growing another trend opposing it grew as well. We lived in a conservative time but many women did not always fall into the homemaker category. Not all women were married. Not all women had the family so new trends started to pop up. Beauty pageants, Barbie’s and Marilyn Monroe were some of the biggest and or sexiest trends to come about. The sex appeal of women changed during this era but icons made a huge difference. They have molded what we are today and what women have evolved into. Doris Day was what an independent woman was supposed to be like. She gave that image but she was not married and she did have a sex appeal to her that was not common. The other three icons broke that mold but Doris Day created the gateway for these icons.

Approximately, 2.5 million women participate in US beauty pageants each year. The pageants are supposedly meant to act as a stage for female contestants, to promote community service and gain scholarships are often affiliated with objectification. I clearly disagree with the whole idea and believe that the sole purpose of beauty pageants is female exhibitionism. The trend of these started when P.T. Barnum invited a few handfuls of women to brandish their figures. At first this was ridiculed as scandalous but then after a few alterations the idea this preposterous event has flourished into a business attracting businesses; acting as an economic driver.

1 In 1854, young woman, men, and children participated in competitions involving the judging and exploitation of participants true beauty. Pageants were an early form of patriotism in America. Women didn’t have equal rights or job opportunities as men; to show love for their fighting men, women competed in beauty competitions. Citizens grouped together to form the American Pageant Association to support this growing beauty pageant platform. By the 1888’s informal pageants rose; women were judged for their natural beauty, but it still wasn’t anything worldwide. It’s impossible to tell exactly when beauty pageants began, different forms of beauty pageants occurred in history all over the world: Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Ottoman Empire.

Beauty pageants may seem harmless and fun, the audience only sees what goes on in front of the curtains. What goes on when the curtains close and you enter backstage, is a whole different story. Society today has come up with the idea that there is a certain image women must portray, and when girls see that they do not look like that image, they start to develop cognitive, physical and psychological problems (Cromie, 2000). According to

Beauty pageants create a certain standard for beauty. They teach girls and that they don’t look good unless they have a certain body type, a full layer of makeup on their faces, and spray tan where spay tan should not be. There are a variety of beauty pageants but the most controversial type of beauty pageant is child beauty pageants. At a young age, children are taught that the only way they can make it is by being beautiful. Children have this idea instilled in their minds that they must win every pageant so they can move up and compete in bigger pageants. Children are over-sexualized, dressing in skimpy outfits and doing suggestive dance moves in front of crowds of strangers. Pageants teach the wrong values to children who don 't know better.

What is a Beauty Pageant? A beauty pageant or beauty contest is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants, although some contests have evolved to also incorporate personality traits, intelligence, talent, and answers to judges ' questions as judged criteria. In American culture, beauty pageants have been around since the 1960s. The Beauty Pageants first started in Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey for teenager from the ages of 13 to 17 years old and by 1964 there have been over 35,000 participants that prompted an age division. In Today’s society beauty Pageants are still popular and still demeaning to women and little girls. Beauty pageants